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NEW APPROVED HOUSEHOLD MILLS WITH MUCH POTENTIAL AND MANY PITFALLS
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26/10/2009 |
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Grontmij | Carl Bro calculations demonstrate that the new mini-windmills have the potential for saving Denmark towards 300,000 tons of CO2 a year. Families living in open country would thus be in a position to reduce their electricity bill by 50 %. This saving might even be considerably increased were more types of mini-windmills to receive approval for use in Denmark. But Risø DTU is hesitant.
 Getting the so-called mini-windmills approved for use in Denmark has been a protracted affair. Now, however, the first permission has been issued – thereby opening up for new feasibilities of reducing electricity costs while also cutting down a considerable portion of the Danish CO2 emission. Here at Grontmij | Carl Bro, we have studied the new perspectives and calculated the savings potential.
Supplies half the household’s annual power consumption
”The new household mills will make it feasible for average Danes to obtain considerable reductions in their own CO2 emissions. Owners of the new type-approved mini-windmill – so far, only one has been approved for use in Denmark – can look forward to annual savings of 2-3,000 kWh, roughly corresponding to 50 percent of the electricity consumption of an ordinary Danish family with 2 children”, says Grontmij | Carl Bro Climate Consultant, Karsten Bruun, giving an example:
”Each Dane has an average annual electricity consumption of app. 1,500 kWh. According to key figures from the Danish Energy Agency, every 1 kWh sold from a power plant contributes with a little over 500 grams of CO2 emission. Should the Green family, living at a smallholding in Western Jutland, invest in a type-approved household mill, it will – apart from the economic gain – reduce its annual CO2 emission with approximately 1.4 ton.”
Approved mini-windmill will first be rotating in Skive
Desiring to direct its citizens’ attention towards the new mill and its potential in wind-swept Western Jutland , ”The EcoCity of Skive” has initiated the erection of just such a one on the town-hall roof. The mill costs between DKK 30, - 40,000; and, on the basis of current energy prices, its electricity production will mean savings in the environment of app. DKK 6,000 on the electricity bill. Thus the mill will be repaid in between 6 and 8 years, whereupon the electricity produced will be pure delight. With a life span of between 20 and 30 years, and considering expected rises in energy prices, the investment will only become even better for Skive Municipality.
The first type-approved household mill is of the classic horizontal type. It is best suited for unobstructed winds, which means that such mills should not be surrounded by other tall buildings or large trees. This is why, during the initial phase, they will be best suited for industrial areas and open country – i.e. for farming areas and freestanding buildings with no large trees to the west.
Hence, when Skive Municipality is now putting the first type-approved mill to use in Denmark, this will be with the aid of a six-metre long mast lifting the mill free of the town-hall roof and the ambient turbulence which might otherwise obstruct the horizontal mill.
Dilatory approval delays the development of the mini-windmills
Skive Municipality and Grontmij | Carl Bro are still waiting for Risø DTU to approve the first vertical mini-windmill, which will be better suited for urban wind conditions. Thus, the location on the roof of Skive Town Hall has been chosen primarily for purposes of creating attention; and the mill will later be located at a more expedient site – by a school or sports hall in more open country.
Fact box – the mini-windmill potential in Denmark
That mini-windmills possess a considerable potential for CO2 savings in ’open country’ and in ’industrial areas’ will be substantiated by the following simple calculation based on figures from, among others, Statistics Denmark:
The number of work places in Denmark in Nov. 2007 were: 300,311
Estimating that 1/3 of these are located in own
buildings in industrial areas, the number is app.: 100,000
Thus, the saving potential in industrial areas
equals 100.000 businesses * 2,500 kWh, app.: 250,000 mWh
The number of ’farmhouses at holdings’ (2009): 111,637
The number of ’other year-round occupancy’ 2009): 14,827
In total: 126,564
Thus, the saving potential in open areas
equals 125,000 dwellings * 2,500 kWh, app.: 312,500 mWh
In Denmark, the new mini-windmill thus
has the total potential for saving close to: 500,000 mWh
Converted into climate-gas reduction: 273,500 ton CO2
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Further informationKarsten Bruun, Climate Consultant, Grontmij | Carl Bro, tel. +45 2723 4659, mail kbu@gmcb.dk
Lasse Bjerre Sørensen, PR Manager, Grontmij | Carl Bro, tel. +45 2723 6961, mail lbs@gmcb.dk
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